The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living

by Jeremy Taylor

Those I call the internal actions of religion, in which the soul only is employed, and ministers to God in the special actions of faith, hope, and charity. Faith believes the revelations of God, hope expects His promises, and charity loves His excellencies and mercies. Faith gives our under standing to God, hope gives up all the passions and affections to heaven and heavenly things, and charity gives the will to the service of God. Faith is opposed to infidelity, hope to despair, charity to enmity and and these three sanctify the whole man, and make our duty to God and obedi cncé to His commandments to be chosen, reason able, and delightful, and therefore to be entire, persevering, and universal.

Genres: Devotional, Essays, Religion

Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1650

About the author

Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667) was a cleric in the Church of England and a writer.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Lucy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is somewhat heavy going although it's the modernized version. It's all fairly sound as a guide to the Christian life, though, and not as anti-fun as one might imagine.

[Judson Marvel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great.

[Jonathan Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tough going. Not for the faint of heart. But, a well needed challenge to holiness and happiness in the gospel.

[Gabriel Santana · Rating 5 out of 5]

A+

[Ronald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book, but I don't know if a practical Christian can follow all the tenets that are propounded in this book.

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the best book on living the Anglican life I have ever read. Not just an excellent resource on spirituality, but a robust synthesis of the wisdom of the classical authors subordinated in every way to Christian wisdom; there are nearly as many citations from Seneca and Plutarch as from Christian sources. The only caveat is the presence here of what Martin Thornton has described as "Caroline rigorism": in their zeal to take sin seriously, the Caroline divines have a tendency to impose standards more rigorous than even the most zealous of the ancient Fathers, and far more rigorous than is typical in the English school of spirituality. With a little caution about possibly tending towards morbid introspection, though, there is a tremendous amount of profitable material here.